"At first blush, it may seem to be a text ready-made for a classic evangelistic sermon about the power of Christ to save unbelievers. And it certainly does speak to that reality. However, the evangelical preacher should take care not to run ahead of the text and risk missing the powerful tensions that remainâ€”tensions that in fact deepen the profundity of Christ's saving work."

"'Saving,' as Paul describes what
happens to him, is not moving a name from one column to another. Saving
is certainly not ignoring sin and the harm it does. Saving is
re-commissioning someone for new work. It is taking a persecutor of the
church and turning him into an ambassador of Christ. Saving is the human
equivalent of fashioning swords into plowshares."

"...we are prepared to interpret the
doxologies in 1 Timothy 1,17 and 6,15-16 where the language of uniqueness
is used in praise of God. The result should be a greater appreciation of
the influence of epideictic rhetoric on the way Christians shaped their
God-talk."